OH, MAN! SERIES HERO CUT!

LHP Will Ohman, one of the surprise heroes of Yuma's 2007 postseason, has been unceremoniously cut after a lackluster spring.

Ohman has a 4.33 ERA in 220 games worth of appearances in 'reality' over parts of the last seven years and last year held left-handed batters to a .236 average...none of which, apparently, figured in the defending world champion's decision to let the 30-year-old southpaw pursue employment elsewhere.

This is just a small taste of the bloodletting going on this spring as BARB owners adjust to the new 40-man roster requirement. Remember, players who will open the season on the DL do not count against the 40-man roster, but once healthy must be added to it, or else be cut.

2007 BARB WORLD SERIES, GAME SEVEN

OH, MAN! LEFTY UNLIKELY CHOICE FOR STOPPER

Darwin, Australia----With the 2007 BARB World Series tied up at three games apiece, it came down to this: one game for all the marbles, at the home of the Finches. But could Darwin take any real confidence from being at home? After all, they had played ‘road warriors’ in Arizona to take a 3-2 lead in the Series and neither team had so far managed to win a single contest at home, flouting the oddsmakers.

And what were the odds of 43-year-old Roger Clemens outlasting young Scott Kazmir, especially if his teammates could only manage one run of support? And, if things were left in the hands of journeyman left-hander Will Ohman (2-5, no saves, 6.48 ERA in 41 games) over mid-season acquisition Francisco Cordero, who had 16 saves and a 3.32 ERA between stops in Oakeyland, Arizona and Yuma? And that the Finches would commit 12 errors in 7 games, or that Darwin would have a better team ERA and more runs scored than Yuma, and yet.....

LOSE THE SERIES?

For that, incredibly, is exactly what happened in this unlikeliest of seventh games. Clemens (1-0, 4.09) worked seven shutout innings, but nevertheless left ahead 1-0 on the strength of Vladimir Guerrero’s 4th inning solo homer off Kazmir (1-1, 1.84). Yuma was unable to add more despite a drop by Lance Berkman in left and a throwing error by Jeff Francouer, but instead of going to Cordero, went with the lefty Ohman when ‘The Rocket’ walked pinch-hitter Chone Figgins to open the eighth. Ohman got Carlos Guillen (banished to the DH role due to poor fielding) to fly out to center, picked Figgins off first and got Placido Polanco to ground out harmlessly to his opposite number in Brian Roberts. This was so impressive that the Firebirds left Ohman in to start the ninth against Darwin’s coterie of switch-hitters. Ohman walked David Ortiz on a full count, but got Series goat (3 errors) Chipper Jones to hit into a double play. But Lance Berkman, the hero of Darwin’s playoff with Vegas, drew a walk to put the tying run back on and Aaron Rowand beat out a slow roller to put the go-ahead run on with two out.

Would Yuma go to Cordero NOW, with the right-handed hitting Francouer up? Not on your life! Cordero watched from the bullpen as Ohman was left in to pitch to Francouer, who swung at the first pitch SHARPLY, hitting a line drive that....

Was flagged down in the gap by Curtis Granderson!

Yuma wins Game Seven, 1-0, and the 2007 BARB World Series, to boot!

The FIREBIRDS are BARB Champions!

Immediately after the final out, Yuma GM Chris Melkonian (often a bridesmaid), shook hands with shell-shocked Head Finch Scott Hatfield, who could only whisper ‘Congratulations’ after the surprising upset. Yuma had been, in a sense, outpitched by Darwin hurlers, who compiled a 1.71 ERA in seven games to the Firebirds’ 3.57. When Darwin had won, they had won big (22 runs to just 6), but they had lost four games by only seven runs, and in many cases the runs were unearned, with the Finches committing 12 errors in the Series to Yuma’s 4.

“Clearly,” Finches manager PZ Myers snarled, “Some of us will be working on drills for the next few months, and others of us will be trying to find a new line of work. We outscored them, we pitched well. Talk about the 1960 Yankees all you want, but you will never convince me that my club played up to its ability. Not to take anything away from the Firebirds, because they outplayed us in that area, and that’s why they are the champs. But I guarantee there will be some changes around here, because this kind of failure simply isn’t acceptable.”

SABATHIA EARNS MVP HONORS

Office of the League Commissioner----With no Firebird regular hitting higher than .214 and only one home run launched (by Vladimir Guerrero), it was no surprise to see a hurler named Series MVP. C.C. Sabathia (2-0, 1.06) got the nod after allowing just two runs in his two starts, including a 3-2 complete game win in Game Six to extend the Series. Sabathia (18-8, 3.20 in the regular season), regularly abused Darwin’s corps of switchhitters, fanning ten, including Chipper Jones three times, along with inducing three double plays, two of which he started himself. In a sense, Sabathia’s honor represented Yuma’s edge with the leather in the Series, and pointed to weaknesses that the Finches lineup had against quality lefties. No doubt Darwin’s Eastern Division foes will take note.

As for Yuma’s foes? They must be getting tired of looking up at the Firebirds tail chassis, but as Chris Melkonian’s club took their fourth straight divisional title all the way to the world championship. Tied for the loop’s fourth-best record, they will even have halfway decent draft position in the off-season; in fact, the highest draft position ever for a defending champ! It’s going to make for interesting gnashing of teeth for the likes of Arizona, Black Mesa and San Jose and a likely change of ownership for at least one club in the division.

2007 BARB WORLD SERIES, GAME SIX

MARKAKIS THE DIFFERENCE AS YUMA FORCES GAME SEVEN

Darwin, Australia----The Finches, looking for a world title, scored twice in the first and for five innings looked like world beaters behind Kelvim Escobar, but were again betrayed by sloppy fielding and hurt (TWICE) by budding superstar Nick Markakis, as the youthful Yuma LF was the difference in a 3-2 contest that saw C.C. Sabathia (2-0, 1.06) and the Firebirds force a Game Seven. Ain’t life grand?

Escobar allowed just two singles in the first five frames and benefitted from a key double by Chipper Jones, whose two errors in one inning of Game Five had nearly sunk his team. Jones scored Chone Figgins with his two-bagger, and when Brian Roberts bobbled the relay back to the infield, that allowed Jones to reach third, where he scored a batter later on Jeff Francouer’s single to right:

Darwin led, 2-0!

But you have play nine innings in this game, or so fans are told. So it was that, in the top of the sixth, Granderson reached when Estrada mishandled his swinging bunt, one more fielding gaffe for the Darwinians in a series seemingly filled with Finch.....foulups. Vladimir Guerrero took a mighty hack at a breaking ball down and in and ended up on first with a bunt single. Tom Glavine relieved Escobar to go after lefty slugger Travis Hafner but....walked Hafner to load the bases. Gulp! Looking for a ground ball, the Finches called on sidearmer Cla Meredith to pitch to Ryan Braun, but the Firebirds braintrust elected to pinch-hit Ibanez at this point, looking for contact rather than shying away from it. Ibanez’s slow roller forced Hafner, but the speedy Granderson scored. With one down, that brought up Nick Markakis, who hit another slow roller to Polanco, who had only one play—at first----and so Guerrero scored the tying run. The Finches inability to field the ball and counter Yuma’s speed had allowed the Firebirds to tie the game, 2-2-2!

Oliver Perez, who spent much of 2007 riding the shuttle back and forth from AAA, worked a scoreless seventh inning for Darwin and was allowed to start the eighth. Second-guessers at this point might’ve well asked why; they just as well might’ve wondered why Johnny Estrada (no great shakes on defense) was still in the lineup. Perez walked Big Vlad, and Yuma again burned Estrada, as Guerrero took second with nobody out. Ibanez hit a deep fly to the gap in right-center that Rowand had to leap at the fence to grab, and Guerrero scampered over to third. So it was with one out, in the top of the eighth, left-handed hitting Nick Markakis again came up, this time with a chance to put his team ahead. Going for the ‘K’, the Finches called J.J. Putz (10.7 K’s per nine innings, tops on their staff) to pitch to Markakis, a tough man to fan. Instead, Markakis delivered a six-hop single up the middle through Putz’s legs, a base hit, and Guerrero scored!

Yuma led, 3-2, in a must-win game if they wished to extend the Series!

Darwin would not go quietly, however. In the bottom of the ninth, they got a leadoff single from Chone Figgins, the one real basepath threat on Darwin’s roster. Figgins stole second rather easily, and if Yuma was ever going to go to the pen, now would seem to be the time. But big lefty C.C. Sabathia, having allowed only four hits, didn’t even appear to be breathing all that hard and the Firebirds stuck with their starter with a one-run lead in the ninth! Definitely going against the book—or was that just a comment as to the club’s lack of confidence in their relief corps? Whatever.....what mattered was the results:

Chipper Jones STRUCK OUT.

Jeff Francouer STRUCK OUT.

‘Big Papi’, David Ortiz, worked the count full, fouled off two pitches, then walked and was replaced by a pinch-runner, Jose Lopez. The WINNING run was now on base, and....

Lance Berkman hit a fly ball out to left, where it was.....

CAUGHT by Markakis! Ball game!

Yuma wins, 3-2, and ties the Series at 3-3!

There would now be just one game, and the winner of that contest would be the league’s world champ! Who will prevail??

2007 BARB WORLD SERIES, GAME FIVE

SMOLTZ WINS REMATCH: FINCHES TAKE SERIES LEAD DESPITE FIVE, COUNT 'EM, FIVE ERRORS!

Yuma----With the 2007 BARB World Series knotted at two games apiece, the visiting Darwin Finches had to overcome five fielding errors (including two in one inning by 3B Chipper Jones), but a glaring John Smoltz (1-1, 0.69) pitched around four of the miscues and limited the host Firebirds to just three hits in eight frames to win his rematch with Yuma ace Roy Halladay (1-1, 1.56), who was a 3-1 winner in the Series opener against Smoltz.


The veteran was only 7-8 in the regular season, and seemed often unable to pitch past the fifth without a big inning. But Smoltz showed no such lack of stamina in his second post-season start, and was no doubt aided by the fact that he only faced 30 batters in that stretch, and (if the truth be known) helped by some over-aggressiveness on the basepaths by the Yuma nine.

Darwin took a 1-0 lead in the first when David Ortiz stroked a two-out solo shot over the wall in right on the first pitch he saw from Halladay. It was the third homer of the Series for 'Big Papi' !

Yuma’s big righty settled down, however, retiring 16 of the next 18 batters he faced. Unfortunately for the Firebirds, Smoltz was even better during that stretch, allowing only one hit (a soft single by Raul Ibanez in the third) and inducing a double-play ball when Vladimir Guerrero reached on an error by SS Carlos Guillen. So it was that in the seventh Darwin gained an insurance run to lead 2-0 on singles by Mike Jacobs and Aaron Rowand.

As it turned out, Darwin would need that insurance run! For, in the bottom of the eighth, Miguel Tejada singled to shallow center. With Adam LaRoche pinch-hitting for Ibanez, Tejada stole second rather easily off Finches C Johnny Estrada. LaRoche slapped a one-hopper at Chipper Jones, who let it kick away from him to deep short, Tejada taking third to put runners at the corners with nobody out. But here Yuma may have overplayed their hand on the bases. Shane Victorino pinch-ran for LaRoche and the Firebirds called for a delayed double steal. THIS time, Estrada was able to make the play when the relay came back home from second, and Tejada was OUT!

But Darwin wasn’t out of the inning yet! Russell Martin flied harmlessly to short center, but Yuma got runners at the corners again with two out when Brian Roberts’ line drive went through the legs of Jones at third, his SECOND error of the inning! Curtis Granderson then hit an easy ground ball to Polanco, but the veteran inexplicably threw low to first, the batter was safe and Victorino had scored Yuma’s first run of the game----on a THIRD error!

What more could go wrong for the Finches? Huffing and puffing, Smoltz would face Vladimir Guerrero with two runners on and two out, as big an opportunity for Yuma’s cleanup hitter as you could ever expect. But Smoltz got Guerrero to fish for a ground ball, and (THIS TIME) Guillen made the play, throwing out Vlad at first to end a weird inning. In the ninth, Trevor Hoffman came on and made short work of the crestfallen Firebirds for his first save of the weird post-season. Darwin, which led all of BARB with 93 wins in the regular season, now had a 3-2 Series lead and, headed back to Australia, could be forgiven for thinking that now they had Yuma right where they wanted them. Win just one of the next two games at home, and the Unnatural Selections would be the World Champs!

But doubts remain: how in the world could Darwin keep committing so many errors in the field, and expect to triumph? For there were five errors in this contest alone, and already eight in the Series? Darwin manager PZ Myers was blunt: "We may have to sit one of our bats. If Jones and Guillen can't field their positions, then this becomes a game of who puts the ball in play the most. And I don't think that's our game."

2007 BARB WORLD SERIES, GAME FOUR

ROOKIE DELIVERS, FINCHES TIE SERIES

Yuma—On the road, down 2-1 to the home team, the visiting Finches rolled the dice and cast their fate in the hands of rookie Yovani Gallardo, who posted a 4-1 mark with a 3.14 ERA in nine appearances after August this season, seven of them starts. Gallardo, highly-coveted in trade talks, did not disappoint. Staked to a big lead early on by the bat of David Ortiz, Gallardo would end up going the distance, needing 111 pitches to frustrate the Firebirds, who pretty much were behind the eight ball the entire affair.

Carlos Guillen, in the DH role after earlier errors in the Series, led off the game with a single. Polanco bunted Guillen over as the Finches played small ball. With one down, though, Ortiz got into a Carlos Zambrano pitch and hit it the other way, out of the ballpark, for a 2-0 Darwin lead! Chipper Jones doubled and Lance Berkman, the hero of Darwin’s playoff, drew a walk to put two on with one out. Aaron Rowand flew out softly to Markakis in left, but Jeff Francouer cleared the bases with a two-run triple in the alley over the glove of a diving Granderson and came home to score a moment later when Zambrano’s wild pitch to Estrada eluded C Russell Martin:

Darwin led, after just one half-inning of play, 5-0!

After that, it was seemingly a matter of throwing strike for Gallardo. Brian Roberts tripled and scored in the bottom of the frame for the Firebirds, but Yuma would score only a total of three runs through eight innings. By that time, Khalil Greene had gone deep off the controversy-plagued Roger Clemens in relief, Berkman had singled home a run, and Ortiz had crunched his second homer of the contest, a three-run shot.

So it was that, with a 10-3 lead, Gallardo (1-0, 3.60) was allowed to work the ninth having thrown only 96 pitches through eight frames. Markakis fanned, Tejada grounded out to Jones and when DH Raul Ibanez flied harmlessly to Jose Cruz Jr. in left, that was the ballgame. After some close games at home, the Finches had come into Yuma and evened the Series by scoring 20 (count ‘em, twenty!) runs in two games. If they could win Game Five, they would need only take one of the next two games at home to bring the Finches a world title!

2007 BARB WORLD SERIES, GAME THREE

DARWIN'S BATS AWAKEN: JONES 'CHIPPER' ABOUT BATTING TWICE IN 6TH

Yuma----On the road back in North America and down 2-0 in the Series to host Yuma, the visiting Darwin Finches collected more hits and runs scored in Game Three than in the first two games put together, exploding for eight tallies in the 6th against Jake Peavy (0-1, 12.71), making a winner of dominating lefty Scott Kazmir (8.2 IP, 9 K) and getting off the deck and back into the race for a Series win.

Peavy (10-9, 4.52 in the regular season) trailed only 1-0 after five frames, but lost his command in the sixth. Chipper Jones and Lance Berkman walked to open the frame and one out later Jeff Francouer single, Johnny Estrada doubled home two more and the Yuma pen began to warm. Before the club could get Matt Cain in there, however, and Placido PolancoDavid Ortiz had singled to load the bases. And Cain’s first pitch to Chipper Jones, batting for the second time in the inning, was....

DRILLED! Over the wall in a flash, a GRAND SLAM!

Darwin had scored eight times and that, as they say, was that. Kazmir, given a 9-0 lead, was allowed to work into the ninth, where Yuma scratched out a couple of runs on a Ryan Zimmerman double, but with two down Cla Meredith induced Tejada to line out sharply to Figgins at third. Darwin had held on to win, 10-2! Kazmir (16-9, 3.72 in the regular season) got the win and clearly manhandled Yuma hitters.

“Based on this outing, and our situation,” said manager PZ Myers, “it would be tempting to come back with Scotty in a Game Six, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves. We still trail in the Series, and we need to focus on the next task at hand—which is, who do we start? We have a lot of candidates----Tom Glavine, Oliver Perez, Dustin McGowan or maybe that rookie Yovani Gallardo. We’re not that sure about any of those options right now, but we’ll make a decision tomorrow.”

2007 BARB WORLD SERIES, GAME 2

BERKMAN’S MISPLAY LEADS TO FOUR RUNS: DARWIN DOWN, 2-0!

Darwin, Australia—Trailing 1-0 in the Series already, the Finches put themselves in a major hole by being too eager with C.C. Sabathia, yet not careful enough with the leather, as the visiting Firebirds rode their lefty and a big fourth inning to a 4-1 lead in Darwin!


The Finches scored first in the affair in the third when Carlos Guillen singled, stole second and came home on a flare just over the glove of Roberts, making the game 1-0 for Kelvim Escobar, who appeared to be dealing. Escobar (15-6, 3.53) was victimized, though, with one out in the fourth. Vladimir Guerrero, chasing a pitch out of the zone, hit a soft fly to left. Berkman, playing left with David Ortiz in the lineup at first, misjudged the arc and the ball rolled all the way to the wall, Guerrero reaching second. It was Darwin’s second error of the game, and the third of the Series, and the poor defense finally caught up with the ballclub. Travis Hafner was intentionally walked to setup a double play, but the middle of Yuma’s lineup got out the whooping stick. Rookie Ryan Braun doubled home Vlad, Markakis tripled home Hafner and Braun, and Tejada scored Markakis with a soft single over Ortiz’s mitt:

YUMA LED, 4-1!

Meanwhile, Yuma’s big lefty C.C. Sabathia (18-8, 3.20) was owning the Finches. Time and again one of the Unnatural Selections would get on, and Sabathia would simply induce a player, usually left-handed, to chase one of his sinkers and hit it right at an infielder. Sabathia started one of the three double plays that resulted himself, and while Escobar settled down and Darwin’s bullpen put up the goose eggs, that was pretty much it. For the second straight game, the Finches would collect only five hits against Yuma pitching. In the ninth, Chipper Jones singled to start the inning. Jose Cruz, Jr. pinch-ran for Jones, but (of all people) Will Ohman came in to the game with his 6.48 regular-season ERA and worked a 1-2-3 ninth. As in 1-2-3, you lose, Finches. Riding spectacular starting pitching and taking advantage of the free baserunners given them by Darwin’s poor defense, the Firebirds had built a 2-0 lead in the Series!

2007 BARB WORLD SERIES, GAME 1

SERIES BEGINS ON OPPOSITE SIDE OF EARTH

Darwin, Australia—The 2007 BARB World Series got under way at the home ball park (Fitness Peak) of the Pacific Division Series champion Darwin Finches, who with the league’s best record (93-63) would have the home field advantage in this post-season. The historic affair, the first Series game played outside the North American continent, began at 10:30 PM local time in Darwin, a very late start start, but televised at 2:00 in the afternoon Pacific time on the West Coast: a night game during the day, if you will.

Oddsmakers doubted the unusual start time would have much effect on the game’s outcome, but there was speculation about each team’s strengths and weakness. Yuma, obviously, had the edge in starting pitching depth, with their top five starters combining for a 60-45 record vs. Darwin’s ".500 Club" that went 51-51. Darwin, on the other hand, had arguably the loop’s best bullpen, with a combined 19 wins and 49 saves, including a league-leading 34 by ageless Trevor Hoffman.

On offense, Yuma did not have the big slugging totals posted by the Finches (201 HR, 808 runs scored), but could perhaps offset that with better overall team speed what with the late-season slump of major trade acquisition Chone Figgins (.163 in 40 games), which had led to Figgins riding the pine. To get offense, Darwin would also have to play several players sub-par on defense, among them 1B David Ortiz, SS Carlos Guillen and 3B Chipper Jones.


YUMA’S ACE SHINES, BUT WILL IT BE ENOUGH FOR A WIN?


As if the ‘night game in the light’ was a bad omen for the host Finches, Yuma’s starter Roy Halladay was ‘lights out’! Halladay (15-9, 3.32 in the regular season) would only allow three hits through the first eight innings and would end up going all the way in the affair. Darwin got a credible start from John Smoltz (7-8, 3.20 in 24 games this year) but in the fifth the veteran gave up back-to-back singles to Nick Markakis and Miguel Tejada. Raul Ibanez obliged with a double-play ball which nevertheless allowed the swift Markakis to wing home with the Series’ first run. YUMA LED, 1-0!


And that seemed for a while to be all that Halladay would require! Yovani Gallardo, the third Darwin reliever to follow Smoltz (0-1, 1.80) coughed up two runs in an inning that saw Aaron Rowand uncharacteristically drop a half-liner off the bat of Curtis Granderson. Yuma went into the ninth leading 3-0, and Halladay (having thrown only 96 pitches) was given a chance to finish it out.

Not so fast! Pinch-hitter Jose Lopez singled to lead off the inning and an out later came around to score on a sharply-hit line drive by Lance Berkman, just the fifth hit given up by Halladay in the game. With the bullpen warming, though, pinch-hitter Mike Jacobs grounded harmlessly to Hafner, who stepped on the bag....

YUMA WINS, 3-1!


The Firebirds, denied in seven games in last year’s World Series, had taken the opener of the 2007 World Series. There were few highlights for the Finches, down 0-1, though Berkman (their playoff MVP) had managed two hits. Today, though, it was all about Roy Halladay (1-0, 1.00), who by going the distance had kept the Firebirds from having to go to what was arguably their team’s weak suit, the bullpen.

GAME FOUR IN BOOKS: TWO CLUBS ADVANCE

YUMA: SLUGGERS POUND IT OUT IN CLINCHER

Worcester—Given a second chance at post-season glory in front of the hometown faithful, Chris Young (0-2, 18.00) instead laid another egg in a 14-9 loss, as the Firebirds rode three more homeruns behind starter Jake Peavy (1-0, 3.60) to send the Elims home in four games.

What a barrage it was! Worcester actually led 2-1 in the third, scoring the go-ahead run off Peavy when SS Miguel Tejada bounced a throw to Hafner at first. But Yuma scored four times in the fifth when Tejada unnerved him. With two out, Tejada hit a soft single and then stole second. Free-swinging Vladimir Guerrero then lined what would've been ball four into short right to score Tejada and took second on Alex Rios’s ill-advised throw to the plate. That brought up Hafner, who had already homered twice in the series and was 6-for-12 with seven walks.

Make that eight walks, because Worcester passed on Hafner to go after rookie Ryan Braun, who HAMMERED a Young curveball....just fair, a three-run shot! YUMA led, 5-2!

That was it for Young. Jon Rauch came in and finished out the inning, but when the Firebirds put up nine more in the next frame against four relievers, it was time to turn out the lights, as Curtis Granderson iced the cake (and the game) with a GRAND SLAM off Doug Davis in relief.

Worcester would go to scratch out some runs against the Firebirds, with Peavy surrendering a pair before leaving in the sixth, and Micheal Wuertz, Matt Cain and Francisco Cordero all contributing, but it just wasn’t enough. The Elims, who had built their offense around contact hitting and speed rather than power, just didn’t have the kind of lumber that was likely to rally from an eleven-run deficit (who does?), and so despite getting some licks in against Yuma’s rather ordinary bullpen, the ninth was a foregone conclusion. Joe Mauer LINED the ball right back at Cordero for the final out, and as Cordero speared it the visitor’s dugout erupted: For the third time in four seasons, Yuma was headed to the Series! Would this be the year that they finally won it all? Who can say?

As for honors, Travis Hafner led all Yuma players in runs scored and was named the Series MVP, though he could’ve easily shared it with the other players who had a pair of homers, Braun and CF Curtis Granderson. The Firebirds combined to hit .347 with 9 HR and 41 runs scored in the four games, a display of firepower difficult to wrap one's head around: perhaps, one felt, given their offense, Yuma will finally be able to get the post-season monkey off their back and hit their way to a championship.

DARWIN'S PEN HOLDS OFF, HOLDS ON

Las Vegas—On the road in the city that never sleeps, the Finches finally could earn a little shuteye by coming close to shutting out the Luchadores in a 4-1 finale, winning their division series on the road in four games with the relief pitching that has been the team’s hallmark the entire season, and setting up a series matchup with perennial bridesmaid Yuma.

Game 1 starters Scott Kazmir (2-0, 3.48) and Derek Lowe (0-2, 8.38) matched up in this one, and for five innings Lowe outdueled Kazmir, allowing four scratch singles and inducing two double plays. The Luchadores took the lead in the top of the fifth when they were able to cash in a throwing error by Chone Figgins, who was playing short after some misadventures by Carlos Guillen in the last three games.

But it was only a 1-0 lead, and in the sixth Lowe finally made the mistake that Darwin hitters were looking for. David Ortiz drew a two-out walk and Chipper Jones slashed a single under the glove of Iguchi to send ‘Big Papi’, running on the play, huffing and puffing all the way to third. Lance Berkman then crushed his second circuit shot of the post-season, a three-run no-doubter WAY back over the wall in center: DARWIN led, 3-1!

The Finches then scratched out a solo run in the seventh against Aaron Heilman, and in the meantime worked their bullpen like nobody’s business. Yovani Gallardo, a real find, worked for the third time in four games, and lefty starters Oliver Perez and Tom Glavine each came in to pitch to a left-handed hitter—and each got a strikeout! J.J. Putz finished up the eighth, and in the ninth, the aging Trevor Hoffman sandwiched a double-play ball in between a pair of singles.

Then, with a runner on and two out, the tying run on-deck, Alfonso Soriano slapped a ball DEEP in the hole, but SS Khalil Greene (in for his defense) ranging, short-hopped it on the third bounce and in one motion whipped the ball to Polanco to force Prince Fielder. Three outs! Ball Game! The Finches had won, 4-1, and would now advance to their first World Series!

Lance Berkman, sometime outfielder, sometime first baseman was among the jubilant Finches, but he was also in pretty elite company: Berkman hit .600 (6-for-10) in the four games with 2 HR, 6 BB and 10 RBI, each leading the club in those departments. For his feat, Berkman was named the Playoff Series MVP. Now, he and the rest of the Unnatural Selections will hunker down to see if they can solve Yuma’s prodigious offense...!

FINCHES SURVIVE A.J.'S "PIERCING"

Las Vegas----In the city that never sleeps, the Darwin Finches survived a third-inning salami by A.J. Pierzynski, scoring five times in the middle innings then turning things over to their sensational bullpen to retake the lead in the Atlantic Series, two games to one. Kelvim Escobar (15-6, 3.53 in the regular season) was nursing a 2-1 lead going into that fateful inning against A.J. Burnett, but it wasn’t all his fault. Iguchi and Holliday singled with two out, and Manny Ramirez’s hot shot to third was mishandled by Chipper Jones, loading the bases. Prince Fielder hit a soft single just over the leaping Mike Jacobs to score the tying run, and that brought up Pierzynski, who drilled a line drive over the outstretched glove of Jeff Francouer in right, a GRAND SLAM!

Had all the momentum swung Vegas’s way? The series was tied, and they were now leading 6-2 with two down in the bottom of the third in a pivotal Game Three. If Darwin was going to avoid going down in the series and possibly losing the playoff to the underdog, they would need to get going immediately....

Which they did. Berkman led off the fourth with a solid single against Burnett, and Jacobs and Carlos Guillen each would collect RBI doubles in the inning, the second knocking Burnett out of the game. Chuck James came on to retire Placido Polanco, preserving a 6-5 Vegas lead, but the Unnatural Selections had come right back to make a game of it. Escobar, meanwhile, put up zeroes for two frames after his disastrous third, and in the fifth his teammates gave him the lead he sought, scoring twice against James and Aaron Heilman, the big blow being an RBI triple by Francouer to score Berkman, who had walked.

And that was it: Darwin had a 7-6 lead, and used its pen liberally to ensure that Escobar (1-0, 9.00) would get the win. Yovanni Gallardo worked for the second time in the playoffs, with the rookie retiring seven hitters. Tom Glavine pitched to one batter (Fielder) and got a weak grounder, Jonathan Broxton got two hitters, and Trevor Hoffman finished up for the first save in the playoffs, and it appeared as if Darwin had reached a turning point.
"We are very bad (unprintable)," said DH David Ortiz to the revved-up Darwin locker room. "We expect to (unmentionable) people up, and I don’t give a (anatomically impossible) who knows it." Less obscenely, it was noted that Darwin now led 2-1 and needed only to win one of the next two games to head to the Series.

'TEX' FLEXES PECS, ELIMS OFF THE DECK

Office of the League Commissioner—Led by 1B Mark Teixeira, the Worcester Eliminators finally swung the bats, collecting 15 hits while rallying from six runs down to stay alive in the 2007 playoffs. That was more hits than they put together in each of the previous two losses to the Western champ Yuma Firebirds, but things didn’t start off well at all for Matt Caskey’s troops, as the starting pitching continued to struggle.

It seemed as if Chris Melkonian’s club was in line for a sweep of the wild card Eliminators when Gil Meche (12-6, 4.61 in the regular season) dug his club an early hole, surrendering a two-run homer to Travis Hafner, then hitting the showers in favor of rookie Tyler Clippard after Miguel Tejada’s three-run homer in the fifth. The Firebirds would go on to hit another dong with runners on off Clippard (Ryan Braun was the culprit this time), and after two and a half frames led 8-2.

But Mark Teixeira was not to be denied. Teixeira singled home Hanley Ramirez in the first, singled and scored in the third, then doubled home two runs as part of a three-run fourth that saw Worcester narrow Yuma’s lead to 8-6. Scott Shields relieved the tiring Roger Clemens, but was no more effective, allowing a double steal by Derek Jeter and Carl Crawford and a two-run single by Ramirez to tie the score! Worcester had rallied from six runs down, and with four innings left to play, had a chance to get into Yuma’s pen and pull out a win!

Which they did, in weird fashion. With the score still knotted 8-8 with one out in the seventh, Rafael Soriano hit Jeter in the forearm. Jeter stole second for the second time in the game, and a rattled Soriano walked Carl Crawford. Ramirez flew out softly to short right, no runner daring advance, but Teixeira, working the count deep, fouled off four 3-2 pitches before finally drawing a walk to load the bases. Now for the weird.....with Grady Sizemore batting, Soriano broke off the old 54-foot curveball, which sailed over Martin and the ump alike. Jeter scored with ease, but Carl Crawford, going on contact, electrified the crowd by scoring standing up just ahead of Soriano’s lunging tag: the Elims had scored two runs on a WILD PITCH. Two batters later, Joe Mauer followed with a bases-clearing double to cap a five-run inning and Worcester now led, 13-8!

The Elims would take no chances with their first lead of the series. After Brad Lidge gave up a single run, they went immediately to Jon Rauch, extending him for the third straight game, and then let Chad Cordero work the ninth in a non-save situation. When Cordero fanned Raul Ibanez to end the game, Worcester fans let out a fierce yell, a mixture of triumph and anger. With one game left in their home park, the Elims would now face the task of corralling Roger Clemens to force a fifth game, still down 2-1 in the Series....

DARWIN: "MANNY-HANDLED"

Down Under----The Darwin Finches (a BARB-leading 93-63 in the regular season) got all they could handle in the opening two games of their series from the Las Vegas Luchadores (80-76), champs of the Central Division, and after a marathon pair of games that saw Vegas score 13 runs on 19 hits have to figure they’ll need to take their best game on the road.

Curiously, Vegas matched up two starters with losing records in the regular season: Derek Lowe (12-14, 4.04) and Brett Myers (5-7, 5.08), but that was to give A.J. Burnett (still nursing a sore arm) a fifth day’s rest coming into the post-season. Darwin, meanwhile, countered with Scott Kazmir (16-9, 3.72) and John Smoltz (7-8, 3.20), which seemed to definitely favor the Finches. Darwin even took early leads in both games, with a two-run shot by David Ortiz off Lowe in the opener, and a (Emeril: BAM!) grand slam from Lance Berkman in the second game off Myers.

Yet, despite all of that, Darwin was forced to seriously depart from their usual game plan, going to the bullpen often yet never using Trevor Hoffman, en route to a nerve-racking split of the first two games. How did it happen? Read on....

As mentioned, Ortiz gave the Finches an early lead, roping a ball over the wall in right-center with his fluid swing. But the Luchadores came back, with Gary Matthews hitting a solo shot with two out in the second and Jimmy Rollins tieing the ballgame 3-3 with a two-run blast: Kazmir had not been able to hold the lead! The southpaw’s teammates took him off the hook, however, scoring three runs in the fifth and sixth, with Berkman hitting a two-run single and Chipper Jones a bases-loaded double.

As it turned out, Darwin would need the offense. Kazmir, left in with a 6-3 lead, began the top of the sixth by giving up a triple to Matt Holliday. Jonathan Broxton came on and his first pitch was hit out of the ballpark by Manny Ramirez. You can say what you want about Manny’s world, but in his world, Manny hurts pitchers....

So it came about that the Finches would lead 9-5 after six innings, and this would be the final score, but not before Luchadore hitters forced the Finches to use the bullpen twice, with erstwhile starter Tom Glavine coming on to finish off the last five hitters. Kazmir (1-0, 7.20) got the win despite not pitching particular well, and Lowe (0-1, 13.50), even more miserably, took the loss.

With a 1-0 Series lead and having saved relief stars J.J. Putz and Trevor Hoffman, the Unnatural Selections could’ve been forgiven for feeling confident. But, if so, their confidence was shaken. As mentioned, Berkman staked Darwin to a 4-0 lead in the bottom of the fourth on Berkman’s grand slam. But that was the last scoring the Finches would manage, and things fell apart for John Smoltz (0-1, 7.20) in the third. Ramirez (that guy, again) and Fielder each drew walks with the bases loaded, and Ramirez (owch) scored on a passed ball to tie the game. Iguchi and Soriano hit run-scoring singles to put the Luchadores ahead, and an inning later Ramirez (gaaahhhh) put the icing on the cake by drilling a two-run shot off J.J. Putz.

Rookie Dustin McGowan, who was put on the roster instead of Chad Billingsley, came on to put out the bleeding but the Luchadores were able to hand an 8-4 lead to Mariano Rivera with one down in the eighth. Rivera worked a five-out stint in what was not a save situation, but what definitely put a punctuation mark on Vegas’s series-evening win, and (with two games at home) the Luchadores’ odds of gaining a playoff upset had just gone from slim to respectable.

To say that the Finches were deflated by this turn of events is like saying that Manny is, well, Manny.

PLAYOFFS BEGIN: YOUNG 'SCHOOLED'

Down Under----The 2007 BARB playoffs, delayed by holidays, finally got under way in earnest on Wednesday evening, as the East-winning Darwin Finches (93-63) met Central champs Las Vegas (80-76) back in Australia, while perennial Western titlist Yuma Firebirds (87-69) hosted wild-card Worcester (92-64) in Arizona.

With the playoffs in a ‘020201' format, there will be two games at home for the team with home field advantage, two games on the road, and then (if needed) a single game back at the favorite’s ‘house’ to determine the outcome. And, as usual in such affairs, there were plenty of surprises, but none more so than Chris Young’s big inning.

Young (11-7, 4.21) had won seven games in 17 starts with Worcester after coming over in early June in a trade with the Black Mesa Anomalies, lowering his ERA half-a-run in the process and striking out over a batter an inning. In Game 1 of the Worcester-Yuma series, Young would be matched up with Roy Halladay (15-9, 3.32 in the regular season)–a tough customer. But it would not be Yuma’s pitching the fans would talk about, but Young’s early meltdown. With the score tied 0-0 in the bottom of the second, Young walked Travis Hafner and then allowed a soft single over second to Nick Markakis. Young got two out, but then left a fastball over the plate for Curtis Granderson, who was only in the lineup due to the late-season injury of Vernon Wells. Granderson jumped all over Young’s offering, hitting a three-run bomb JUST fair curling around the left-field foul pole, and Yuma led, 3-0.

Young fanned Russell Martin to end the inning, but he would end up retiring only one more hitter the rest of the way, in a third inning that went like this: already trailing 3-0, Young walked Brian Roberts. Miguel Tejada doubled. With nobody out and a base open, the jittery Elims (in their very first playoff series) decided against pitching to Vladimir Guerrero and walked the free swinger to load the bases! Hafner then walked in a run. Markakis flied out harmlessly to left, but Ryan Braun and Raul Ibanez both got on to score runs, knocking out Young. His replacement, Jon Rauch, was similarly abused: Russell, Roberts and Tejada all had RBI singles, all with two outs (owch!), and by the time the carnage was over, Yuma had mounted an eight-run inning and led, 11-0!

What’s a boy like Roy (Halladay) to do? Simple: throw strikes and dare the Eliminators to hit enough to get back in the game. Halladay (1-0, 2..25) would go eight strong innings and allow just two runs. Scott Shields, with a 12-2 lead, fiddled about and bounced a couple of wild ones past Martin that helped Worcester add a pair of scores, but this was really just a case of a cat playing with its food. When Mark Teixiera couldn’t make contact with two strikes, Hanley Ramirez was thrown out trying to swipe third for the final out and Worcester had gone down in defeat, 12-4! Young (0-1, 34.71) was charged for nine of those runs, all earned, in as one-sided a game as you can imagine.

What happened in the rest of the games? Who’s going to the Series? Keep checking this blog to find out!